Red grouse

Latin
name: Lagopus
lagopus

Length:
37- 42cm Wingspan:
55 - 66cm

Where: Any upland moorland
area

When: All year round –
early mornings are a good time to see them

Red
grouse are technically the same species as the paler willow grouse
that you can find all over northern Europe. But it does seem to make
them seem more special when you know that you can only see these
ruddy brown characters with their scarlet eyebrows here in the UK.

Go
for a walk anywhere on the heathery hillsides of the National Park
and there’s a chance that you will be told in no uncertain terms to
‘go-bak go-bak’, as the grouse rise up from their hiding places
to complain about your intrusion. You can find these hardy birds
breeding at up to 2000ft. The tough little chicks are able to fly
from their nest in the heather at 12 days old to escape predators. In
fact the heather is the grouse’s element – they eat it, nest in
it, hide in it. In winter they use their strong, feathered legs to
dig down beneath the snow to get at the heather shoots, inspiring
their Latin name, ‘lagopus’ which means ‘hare-footed’.